Year of Grace and Year of Faith?

While planned independently of each other (the Year of Grace is an initiative of the Australian Catholic Bishops in response to local issues, while the Year of Faith announced by Pope Benedict is a call to the universal Church) both have as their goal a renewal of faith in Jesus Christ.

The Year of Grace invites us into a spiritual journey of encountering Christ afresh in our lives through prayer, reflecting on the Scriptures, celebrating liturgies, repenting of our failures and listening to the voice of the Spirit.

The Year of Faith calls us into a deep renewal of our faith through retracing the history of our faith, studying the Catechism, praying the Creed and seeking to be an active witness of what we believe.

These two impulses of the Holy Spirit complement each other and provide opportunities for us to discover and nurture the gifts of ‘grace’ and ‘faith’ at work in our lives.